


I'm The Ribs In Your Chest

by SoldierOfMyShadowyMind



Series: I Won't Fall When You're Shook [5]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Hurt, I'm Sorry, Love, Major Character Injury, Other, Pain, Sharing a Body, Violence, my poor blob, protective Venom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 16:05:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16390865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoldierOfMyShadowyMind/pseuds/SoldierOfMyShadowyMind
Summary: Eddie opens the door with his thoughts miles away, tortured and hostage to that something bigger that tore them apart.The ringing in his ears is sudden and piercing and the sound paralyses him, taking his vision. The warmth in his chest is different than usual, different than Venom and Eddie touches it, not having felt anything but cold, cold, impenetrable cold for the past few days.





	I'm The Ribs In Your Chest

**Author's Note:**

> And now you’re getting to know my darker side…
> 
> Well of course I’ve thought about it. I wouldn’t be me if I hadn’t. I just like hurting my characters and making myself cry, apparently.
> 
> I know, I know, you’re all gonna hate me for this and I’m sorry, I’m terribly sorry, I don’t know what possessed me. *scurries off to write more sappy symbiote fluff*
> 
> Title from Editor's _The Phone Book._

Eddie paces, draws a line with his feet, a path from the refrigerator to the wall at the other end of the room, turns around sharply towards the window, strides back. Shoulders tense and hunched, his hands balled into fists he keeps his head low, thinking fast. Thoughts collide while somewhere else his whole world, his new life goes up in flames. It was just a matter of time before they’d find them. The knowledge had always been there, sitting at the back of Eddie’s brain, persistent but dulled by the safety of daily routine, of profound, indestructible togetherness. Now there’s blind panic, pain flaring up deep inside him at being kept apart. His whole body _hurts_ without his other half, quivering and shaking, ripped apart by forces even they couldn’t defeat.

The silence weighs heavy on his mind, the emptiness nearly driving him insane. They have never been separated for this long and Eddie feels every hollow corner of his body, void and meaningless without his other, his love. The dim lights in his apartment flicker, painting his shadow on the walls and submerging him in darkness, but it should be two, he should never stand here alone. Eddie’s mind races but keeps coming back to one fact, one finality, rewinding over and over again, an endless loop.

_They took Venom. Venom is in danger._

Eddie can feel his other’s pain like his own, compounded unspeakable agony. His body quakes with it, leaving him breathless and bracing himself against the creaky table, panting hard and half-blind with pain. Whatever they do, they can’t cut their bond, but Eddie’s not going to last much longer like this and it feels like punishment for allowing this to happen, for giving Venom up. His love is suffering for Eddie’s mistakes and the outrageous injustice screams at him from all sides. He promised never to let him go, never to be torn apart and yet he failed. He let the one thing that mattered most to him slip through his fingers like sand and now Venom’s suffering for his foolishness, his carelessness. Eddie is wasting time, precious time he doesn’t have but the knowledge that there is nothing he can do hurts more than any other truth and the cold, vicious cruelty cuts deep, leaving scars.

Alone he is weak, he is nothing. He can barely stand upright without help, the only thing keeping him going being bursts of adrenaline and fear, intense, horrible fear. He pushes himself onwards, etching invisible circles into the floorboards but he can’t break the cycle and he can’t stop the pain. Together they are so much more, they are gorgeous, glorious, and Eddie is yearning for the feeling of being complete, of another life in his veins, two existences melded into one. _Living_.

Alone, his body is failing him.

Tormented by the atrocities of the torture they’re inflicting on _him_ , on his other half, Eddie doubles over, falling to his knees and tipping forward, elbows on the floor, his arms quivering with exhaustion at the tremendous effort of supporting his body. Every muscle in his body is taut, tense with more than just physical anguish. His mind feels as if it could burst and he’s shaking with emotions so powerful he can do nothing but surrender, curling up into a ball, tears staining his face. His surroundings blur and the haze takes away the edge, sobs trembling through his chest. The unspeakable, overwhelming _wrong_ of it all crushes him and he grabs around blindly for something to hold onto.

Eddie digs his nails into his palms but calmness eludes him, and he breathes heavily through the panic, the flood of sensations, restless, fear burning in his chest.

The knock on the door takes him by surprise and he goes completely still for a second, stares, stunned into motionlessness. But the stillness only multiplies the pain, and there is no dam or wall to block it anymore but has there ever been, Eddie wonders, scattered and so, so far away, with him and Venom? There is no singular anymore, no secret back door, no protective barrier, they’re _them_ , they’re _we._ This kind of soul-crushing separation is the worst Eddie has ever felt and he can’t bear the distance he’s put between them. Numb with pain and barely conscious he grips the leg of the table and pulls himself upright. He hasn’t slept or eaten in three days and his body is rioting against him, clamouring for him to fill the whole carved out inside him. But Venom is out of reach and Eddie doesn’t know what to do, _he doesn’t know what to do_ and his guard is down, his defences are weak and he opens the door. The brass knob is cool on his heated skin and the touch feels like a shock.

Eddie opens the door with his thoughts miles away, tortured and hostage to that something bigger that tore them apart.

The ringing in his ears is sudden and piercing and the sound paralyses him, taking his vision. The warmth in his chest is different than usual, different than Venom and Eddie touches it, not having felt anything but cold, cold, impenetrable cold for the past few days. The stickiness is oddly calming, reminding him of what he lost. He stares at his fingers, red with his own blood but he doesn’t comprehend. His eyes raise but it’s hard to see past the blur and he blinks, surprised. His mouth opens but no words fall out and he sways on his feet, staggering backwards, hand reaching for the door in search of support. His fingers graze wood but close around nothingness and Eddie loses his balance, world tipping as he falls. Distantly, he hears the heavy fall of boots growing softer as they retreat. Everything is hushed and muted as if enveloped in cotton and Eddie’s eyes are heavy. The crimson on his chest soaks his shirt and his arm slips onto the floor as his body goes limp.

It all went so fast, the past few days, his mind struggles to follow. He’s been here once, at the tipping point, his whole life changing in a matter of hours but he wasn’t prepared for it to happen again. Not so drastically. Not so soon. It might have been inevitable, ending like this, but the irreversibility of it hits hard and too close to home and Eddie draws in a sharp breath. Now, his pain is his own.

There’s a stillness to it all, as if the world has stopped to witness their ending, doomed from the start. They promised each other forever and at the time Eddie was foolish and hopeful enough to believe it. Their bond has made them strong but nothing ever lasts forever and Eddie always knew he’d be the one to go first. He’s glad he is.

There’s an echo in his mind, the tortured sound of a tortured soul, aching and raw.

**_Eddie, no!_ **

Like something raging against its restraints, fuelled by bone-snapping wrath and endless sorrow.

He wants to soothe, lessen the pain, hear that voice in its powerful, striking beauty, but in the end he’s not strong enough. His words are a fragile caress as he teeters on the edge, adrift.

_My love._

He is not enough.

Inky tendrils enwrap him, closing around him like a shield and the wave of agony and pain is so powerful, all-encompassing as the world quakes and falls apart.

Incredible sadness.

**_We are together again, where we belong. Don’t be afraid, you are not alone._ **

Shadows lick up the walls, exploding in a burst of fierce rage, then curling in on themselves, a bitter cry of grief.

**_Eddie. My Eddie. My hero, my love. I got us._ **

**Author's Note:**

> And then Venom saves Eddie and they live happily ever after, sunset, hearts all around, The End.


End file.
